


What Comes Next

by Fitz_Simmons_FTW



Category: Daredevil (TV), Luke Cage (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Daredevil - Freeform, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Jessica Jones - Freeform, Marvel - Freeform, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-19 17:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8219785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fitz_Simmons_FTW/pseuds/Fitz_Simmons_FTW
Summary: Set after Luke Cage finale. Claire had told him that she knew a great lawyer.  Luke just didn't expect him to be blind.





	1. Chapter 1

It all happened so quickly, she had barely gotten time to process any of it.

Claire felt as if her life had been turned upside down once again and she was slowly losing control, but on some level, she also realized that the gravity of situation had not completely sunk in yet.

She was on autopilot.

The moment the feds drove away with Luke in the backseat of their car, she too stepped out of the police station and began walking in the general direction of her mother’s apartment. Even though Misty had assured Claire that her mother was fine, she still needed to make sure. Claire didn’t even know if her mother had found out about their house guest’s fate.

Shuddering, she stopped at the side of the street. A news reporter was interviewing one of the people who had witnessed what was presumably the most badass fight to have taken place in Harlem. Claire sighed and continued on her way. The city was not going to forget this night anytime soon.

Claire suddenly put her hand in her coat and fished out the tiny burner phone that she kept charged and within her reach at any given time.

Granted, she had not talked to Matt since she left Metro General, which now seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had happened since. When she came back here, she had hoped to find some peace of mind, but she had once again walked into something she barely understood. However, this time she knew what she was getting into – a lot of trouble, that is.

Her fingers hovered over the numbers before she swiftly pressed the call button and pressed the device against her ear, her temporary home within sight as she began walking a little faster.

He picked on the third ring.

“Are you OK?” he sounded as if he had just woken up, but she could tell he was already moving.

“Matt, I need your help…,” she said, before quickly adding in, “with a legal matter. Not an emergency.” Should’ve probably begun with that, Claire admonished herself.

There was silence, then, “What’s going on? Are you back?”

“I can’t explain it all over phone, but I’m in Harlem,” she said pulling open the door and walking inside the building. “I am sure you would be aware of at least some of the details, you’re the only person I can trust with this.”

She took a deep breath, surveying her surroundings. The corridor seemed just as she had left it. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting – signs of struggle, perhaps.

“I can be there tomorrow morning,” he said, relief evident in his voice. “I haven’t been to Harlem in a while, but I think I’d be able to maneuver my way around it.” She could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

“Thanks, Matt,” she breathed softly and turned her key in the lock. The lights were on. Her mother was planted right in front of the TV.

Did she even know about Candace?

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Claire," he said softly and she bid him a quick goodbye.

Placing her phone back in her pocket, she closed the door behind and made her way towards her mother.

It was going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire heard the tap of his cane before she saw his face.

Dressed in a sharp gray suit and holding a black leather suitcase, he looked almost an entirely different person. He didn’t look like the Matt she had come to know and fret over. _He lives a completely different life that you know nothing about_ , she realized with a slight pang and stood from her seat at the corner of her mother’s café.

The place was bustling and all everyone could talk about was Luke Cage – Harlem’s very own bulletproof superhero. She was here to do the same with Matt, talk about the man who bore just as much responsibilities as him: the responsibility to help others, do right by the people who cannot stand for themselves, make life easier for some and difficult for others.

Luke and Matt weren’t at the same level. One was still trying to figure things out, sort his priorities. The other had his morals set in a straight, rarely flexible, line. Luke was warm and he smiled and cracked jokes and hit on her and was still confused about the purpose of his powers. He was not as self-righteous or self-deprecating as Matt. Not yet.

She briefly worried if she had pushed Luke in the wrong direction by urging him to continue on this path.

“Claire,” Matt said, his tone sober as he approached her and she extended her arm to guide him to her booth. He didn’t need help, but she knew he had to keep up the pretense. She doubted anyone was even paying attention to them.

“Thanks for coming,” she said softly, signaling her mother for coffee. “I hope this place wasn’t too hard to find.”

He smirked.

“I know my way around,” he tilted his head slightly, his gaze fixed somewhere above her ear. “So, what kind of legal trouble are you in? Something to do with your former job, I assume?”

It wasn’t hard to decipher from his tone that her conversation with Foggy the last time she was at Metro General, had been relayed to him. Did he feel guilty that she lost her job along with the chance of ever being employed at any reputable hospital in New York City? Knowing him, he probably was.

Either way, they had a much bigger fish to fry.

“How much do you know about last night’s fight?”

Matt sat up a little straighter.

“I heard some of it on news. Foggy was wondering if I knew the guy.”

“You don’t, do you?”

“No,” he answered honestly. He had done some research and discovered that until recently, Luke Cage was running a bar in Hell’s Kitchen. Matt did not recall ever visiting it.

“I do,” she began, fiddling with her thumbs. “Before you say anything, just know he’s one of the good guys and I trust him. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure of it.”

He didn’t interrupt her.

“He needs a lawyer. The feds took him away last night. NYPD will probably drop all the charges against him, but he still has some time left at a private prison in Georgia and I need to get him out,” Claire paused as a waitress transferred coffee from her tray onto their table. She smiled a little when Matt thanked the woman.

“What is it he’s serving time for?”

“He was framed.”

“He told you that?”

“That’s the truth.”

Matt regarded her carefully, probably listening to her heartbeat to know if she wasn’t being upfront about the situation.

“Claire, why are you getting into this? Luke Cage might not be a bad person, but your association with someone like him will only bring trouble.”

It was hypocritical of him to say something like this. How many times had she risked herself to help him? The Russians, the authorities, her employers – she had done it all and she didn’t regret one bit of it, so why wouldn’t he let her to do the same for someone else.

“He’s… he’s important to me, and I promised I would help.” Claire looked down at the mug in her hand and remembered the hope she had felt a few hours ago, sitting in the small kitchen at the station, eating Chinese takeout, planning to get some coffee. Just remembering his expressions when she had proposed it made her heart ache.

 _He can take care of himself_ , she reminded herself.

Matt remained silent.

“An old friend?”

“Something like that.”

Matt nodded in understanding. “I’ll need to take a look at his old case files and everything the NYPD has on him. As for his, ah… skills, how do you explain that?” She sighed, it wasn’t her story to tell, so she would just stick to the basics.

“His skin is impenetrable, bullets ricochet off him – unless they are the special kind police have gotten their hands on. He was once shot at close range with a double barrel and woke up in a few hours,” she paused, gauging his expressions.  “He is just a man trying to make his city a better place, and we both know how difficult it can be.”

Matt looked solemn.

“There’s a detective who’d be willing to help, and I suppose she can access his old files too. If you and Foggy can just…”

“It’s just me,” he interrupted and she immediately shut up. “What do you mean?”

“We don’t work together anymore.” His answer was short and clipped. "We just sometimes get a drink together at Josie's." He looked so resigned, she didn’t have the heart to press him on.

“You’re still going to help, right?”

“Of course I am,” he smirked and she realized how much she had missed it. “So, are you going to introduce me to your mother?”

She raised her eyebrows, a little startled, but then noticed her mother standing a few feet behind Matt, silently gesturing towards her new lawyer.

“Of course I am,” she repeated, already feeling lighter than she had in the past few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I loved Luke/Claire, I think Matt/Claire would always be my ultimate OTP.
> 
> Leave comments :)


	3. Chapter 3

Soledad Temple was not an easy woman to impress. In fact, she was rather intimidating – more so than her daughter, whom Matt found to be one of the most stubborn people he had ever met… and he had met some _very_ stubborn people in his lifetime.

“It’s really nice of you to come all the way from Hell’s Kitchen to help us.” Claire did not miss how her mother included herself into the narrative, but she chose not to interrupt. She wanted to keep her family out of trouble, but seeing the way things had turned out, she supposed it was inevitable.

Her mother was as embroiled in this as she was. Almost.

“Considering all the times she helped me out, this is nothing,” Matt smiled, and she noticed the faint redness on his jaw. He must have taken a brutal punch not too long ago. “I’m very prone to getting injured.”

There was a pause as Soledad glanced at her daughter with a flash of understanding in her eyes. Claire froze.  Without missing a beat, the older woman continued the conversation as if nothing had happened, while Claire had a vivid flashback of telling her mother about the blind man who could see more than anyone else.

If Matt noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“… I told him he better bring my daughter home without a scratch, and he did, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t total my van  in the process” Soledad sighed, glancing at the TV screen where the scenes from last night were still playing on a loop. “Luke is good man, from what I’ve heard and seen of him, he’s a savior. He did his part for his city, now it’s Harlem’s turn to fight for him.”

Matt just nodded, his lips pressed in a thin line. A moment later, Soledad excused herself from the pair to greet the new customers and Claire lightly touched his knuckles. “Are you OK?”

“Don’t you think this all could’ve been avoided if he had just hidden his identity, may be worn a mask? By exposing himself like that, he did not only put himself in danger, but all those associated with him.” Claire raised her eyebrows at his change of tone.

Where was that coming from?

“People love him because they know he’s one of them,” she began slowly, sensing the direction this chat could go.

She was tired and desperate and did not have the energy to help Matt Murdock fight his personal demons right now, not that he would ever let her.

“He was irresponsible,” he interrupted her train of thoughts and stood up, straightening his coat. “These people, the Harlem, they may love him right now but how long do you think it would take for them to turn against him?”

“He’s a not a vigilante, he’s just a normal guy who belongs out here,” Claire said softly, pulling on her messenger bag as the two began to make their way out the café. “Luke’s present, the way he did what he did, doesn’t have much to do with his incarceration; it’s his past he needs help with.”

“Don’t we all?” he said quietly with a tilt of his head.

To that, she had no response.

Claire had come to Harlem to collect her thoughts, to find a moment of reprieve from all that she had left behind. Instead, she jumped right into another train wreck – not that she regretted any of it – but how was this any different from her life in Hell’s Kitchen?

 _Except that it was_ , a small voice inside her head told her.

“We have to go this way,” she said after a short silence. They had walked to the corner of the street when she stopped and pulled out her phone, clicking away on it.  “I’ll ask Detective Knight to meet us at Pop’s – it’s a barbershop down the road. Maybe she’ll give us a lead.”

“We’re not going to the precinct?”

“It might not be the safest option.”

“Mariah?” he asked. She sighed and put her phone back, “These people are extremely dangerous. Probably not Wilson Fisk-dangerous, but they are not the sort of folks you’d want against you.”

He clicked his tongue in understanding – and perhaps annoyance.

“What’s Detective Knight’s association with Mr. Cage?” he asked, changing the topic. “She knows him personally, I assume.”

“Yes, something like that,” Claire may not know the true extent of Misty and Luke’s relation, but she knew they had at least hooked up in the past.

“He saved her life and she hates the people who have destroyed this neighborhood,” she continued. “Last night, she said she’d help us, but I don’t know how much she would be willing to bend.”

“You don’t get along?” there was a hint of amusement in his voice. “She can also lose her temper real quick,” she said with a mirthless laughter before giving him a fair warning. “Pushing her may not be a good idea.”

He stopped as they reached the steps and she went down first, pushing open the door, or what was left of it, and walking inside.

The place was a complete mess. There were broken chairs, broken walls, light fixtures were lying on the floor along with various Knicks and knacks. Bits of concrete covered the entire surface and the east wall looked as if it would just come down.

“This ceiling is not going to fall with us in here, right?” she asked him, almost rhetorically, as she tried to salvage a bench buried under the debris. It seemed as if a tornado had ripped the shop apart.

“It’ll stay,” he said after a moment, still standing in the doorway. “Is this is where Luke Cage went up against Diamondback?” he asked, then without waiting for her reply, “Why haven’t police cordoned it off?”

She shrugged. “It would have been a waste of time anyways.”

Matt chuckled darkly as he walked towards her, removing his sunglasses and putting them in his pocket.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked her gently and she frowned. “I know you want to help, Claire, that is what I respect the most about you, but there is a reason you left Hell’s Kitchen. You can still go your own way.”

She scoffed.

“Are you seriously trying to talk me out of it?” He was unbelievable.

“Would you be mad if I said yes?”

“What do you want me to do Matt, run away again?” She didn’t mean to sound so frustrated, but in reality, she was trying very hard to keep it all together. “I tried choosing another path, more than once, and see where it got me.” She extended her hands to the side, gesturing to the destruction around her. “I’ve run away too many times and I am not going to make the same mistakes again.”

“You choosing to get out of all the mess I had put you in, was not a mistake. It was I who did you wrong by dragging you into my world once again,” he began, the lines on his forehead deepening. “You could have still been at your old job…”

“What if I didn’t want to be there anymore? What if I wanted to be here? You did not… ”

“Sshhh, someone’s coming,” he interrupted her before turning towards the door. She saw Misty walking towards them.

“That’s Misty Knight,” she told him and he nodded, his face vacant of any emotion as he stood next to her.

“Here we go,” he said and turned his head towards her, just a little, his mouth relaxed, though without the hint of smirk he usually carried. “Last chance to back out,” he offered again, though they both knew what her answer was going to be.

“I’ll take my chances.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go lovelies - and thanks a lot for commenting on the previous chapters. It's such a motivation.
> 
> Will hopefully upload the next chapter next week. Until then, your feedback is very much appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I know I've been gone a while and haven't updated my other Matt/Claire story "Saving You" in a long time but bear with me. The Luke Cage finale opened up a whole new sets of fanfic possibilities. This is just one of those.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it. Would love the feedback.


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